The invention relates to a procedure for measuring distance between a distance sensor which is carried, or which can be carried by a motor vehicle and an object by emitting electrical impulse signals and receiving signals reflected by the object, and by subsequently calculating the signal propagation delay. The invention furthermore relates to a device which is provided and which is suited for carrying out the procedure.
An approach to distance measurement by processing optical impulse signals is known from EP 0 312 524 B1. This approach involves increasing the signal strength of the signals received in a suitable manner in order to process the signals efficiently, thus making it possible overall to measure the distance over the desired distance range to an adequate degree of reliability. For this purpose, it is recommended that the signals received are added together in a discrete form. This adding together of the sensed values of the periodically emitted impulse repetitions, which are related in each case to corresponding sensing time points, causes the setpoint of the evaluated reception signals to be increased, and should therefore contribute to achieving the desired increase in the sensitivity of the arrangement as a whole.